Flannery O Connor Good Country People Summary

Flannery O'Connor's short story “Good Country People” is typically seen as one of many stories that depicts themes of the feminist movement. Many see the story as where a well-educated woman seeks to change gender roles and seek self-dependence. However, my interpretation of the story resulted in differing themes of the story. Contrary to popular readings, I find that Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People" is used to delegitimize feminism while in other instances it portrays aspects of male dominance to insinuate that women need a man to be in control because women are not capable of taking care of themselves.

O'Connor renders a point to show that women are not capable of being independent by having a well-educated woman like Hulga live

at home with her mother. Hulga has a PhD in Philosophy which is atypical of a woman at the time. In theory, you would think that someone who went against the odds and accomplished a feat would be able to live on her own. However, by placing her with her mother, O'Connor shows that even the best educated women cannot be independent. Hulga's dependence on her mother disproves any evidence of her being a feminist, and adds to my point that most women need a man to take care of them. If she really wanted a story that endorses progressive themes like feminism, she would make sure that she would have a character that represents full independence of women.
The comments in the story from the Mrs.

Hopewell continues anti-feminist rhetoric that seems to undermine Hulga’s need for an education. For example, Mrs. Hopewell states at one point in the story “there was no more excuse for her to go to school…it was nice for the girls to go to school to have a good time.” (O'Conner 3). She is essentially saying that the goal of school for women is to go for social enjoyment instead of getting a quality education. If the story encouraged a feminist ideology, then Mrs. Hopewell would seek to encourage Hulga to become well-educated and have the ability to pursue independence. Instead she goes after Hulga due to her feminist mindset and negatively comments on her by saying “while went about all day in a six-year-old skirt and a yellow sweatshirt with a faded cowboy on a horse embossed on it…Mrs. Hopewell thought it was idiotic and showed simply that she was still a child.”(O'Conner 3). This is just a continuation of surface level attacks towards her daughter and displayed anti feminist actions that were apparent at the time. This further tells why the story does seek to resume the anti-women societal norms instead of the advancement of

women.
Another way to delegitimize women within the story is make the “feminist” figure in the story an atheist. The fact that O'Connor made Hulga an atheist shows that the story is saying that educated women are dissolute because at the time that the story was written, America was not very accepting to nonbelievers as it is today. Coincidently, O’Conner herself is a devout Catholic and often mentions her religion as the answer of changing the world in many of her writings. (Popova 1) With that in mind, I question why she makes a character beliefs that is supposed to be a symbolic agent of the feminist movement contrary to her own? The goal was to make Hulga less appealing to those who were overwhelmingly religious at the time. It also furthers the assumption that education turns women into demonic heathens instead of having good moral beliefs. Her being an atheist could also be used to drive away people from her feminist attitudes because her standing as an atheist could be linked to communism. At the time that this story was written (1955), America was in the midst of the Cold War and the American public was scared that communism would come into the US. With that, people could expose character Helga’s ideology as Left-winged and would only raise suspicions of Helga. That hurts feminism because people could say that there are commonalities between that and communism, which could end up with a negative assumption of all feminist. If O’Conner wanted to have a story expresses a positive image of a feminist, she would have had a religious individual instead of someone who can lead to questionable connotations.
The actions of the women characters seem to express the idea that despite their level of education, women will always have a false view of reality. O'Connor brought out a situation where evidence was provided to show that women fail to distinguish between good and evil in the world. Despite the fact that there are four women in the story, not one of them suspected that the Bible salesman would turn out to be a deceiving individual. Mrs. Hopewell saw the salesman and thought of him positively as “country people” and “the salt of the earth.” (O'Conner 4) Hulga has received a PhD in Philosophy; however, that education did not prevent her from being oblivious when properly identifying the true intentions of the boy.
Even the Mrs. Hopewell furthers the belief that education does not help her much because she describes her as "brilliant, but she doesn't have a grain of sense.” (O'Conner 3) This advances the story’s actions of delegitimizing feminism and contends that women need a man because only they understand the real world. Only men know how other men think, so the story argues that women need someone there to see the true observation of reality. By showing that even educated women are not able to see the real world, the argument furthers the idea that they should not be treated equal in society. Like many situations in the short story, O'Connor did not show women in a positive and suitable fashion, but she instead made them out to have a foolish logic where they could not identify the real world, hence propelling the argument against feminism.
Mrs.

Hopewell’s description of Mrs. Freeman in the story as “good country people” upholds the stereotypical attributes of what a woman. I interpreted this as a support for stereotypical actions for women. For example, Mrs. Freeman is an example of a long philosophy that women should work in the kitchen. It is ironic that Hopewell sees Mrs. Freeman as “good country people” because of her participation in gossip which is not seen as acceptable. By having Hopewell’s endorsement of nosey behavior and other stereotypical roles of women within the story, the story's portrayal of “good country people” is just O’Connor’s continuation of standards that negatively view women. If Mrs. Freeman was an innocent and selfless individual, then my assessment of Mrs. Hopewell’s use of “good country people” to describe her would not argue that the story is just endorsing stereotypical conduct. However, that is not the case and casting Mrs. Freeman’s conduct as good damages the arguments that the story has premises of

feminism.
The final evidence that I am providing to show that “Good Country People” is delegitimizing feminism is the actions of the Bible salesman. His actions demonstrates male dominance because he put himself in the position where he was superior to Hulga. For example, he removes Hulga’s glasses because once her glasses were taken off, she was not able to see her surroundings. This removes her individuality as a women and thus requires her to be dependent on a man to be able to see again. With that, the salesman at that point was in complete control of Hulga because she was impaired and she essentially turned into a subordinate of his desires. This is parallel to what men who believe in maintaining dominant social roles over women due to the efforts of feminism. She was not able to do anything on her own without a man and this is a symbolic way of showing male supremacy. Another action of the salesman that shows male dominence is when he takes away Hulga’s prosthetic leg because this limits her freedom of movement and takes away a part of her life. Throughout the story, Hulga’s leg has been a big influence on her independence, so by taking it away the salesman is taking away something that is essentially her biggest identity. That is another symbolic action within the story, which O’Connor shows that women must follow the desires and wishes men throughout life. When the salesman took away both her glasses and leg that was just saying that she feminisms beliefs do not matter and she is always vulnerable to men.
I have brought out evidence to argue that “Good Country People” does not seek change gender roles or the self dependence of women in society. The story pushes women back instead pushing them forward like many interpret. While I could see that there are a few examples within the story that positively paint feminism, those examples are only surface level because once you think deeper into the story, the overall themes of the study do not render that conclusion. Instead the story tells the truth about the roles of women when reality hit Hulga. Showing the downfall of Hulga is a symbolic way of foreshadowing of what would happen to feminist women who seek independence. It shows that no matter how much she tried to portray herself as independent, in the end she need help from a man in control. With all of this in mind, O'Connor's successfully attained her goal of showing weakness of feminist and to alter the false impression of their place in the world. Furthering pushing back the calls for gender equality.